The risk of the venture, the uncertainty about the current situation or the complex taxation makes the self-employed one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. With the passage of time, the priorities and concerns of the freelancers have slight variations, establishing some differences between the new freelancers and the veteran freelancers.
Thus, the greatest concern for 21% of the new self-employed is the payment of taxes and social contributionsas stated in a study carried out by TaxScouts, and this concern, far from being nuanced in the most veteran self-employed, is accentuated, since this percentage rises to 38%.
The same thing happens with the other great concern of this group of workers: economic uncertainty. In this way, for 22% of the new self-employed, not knowing the future of their business and the current instability is their greatest concern, and this percentage also increases, up to 33%, in the case of the most veteran.
Despite these concerns, more than half a million people registered as self-employed workers last year, according to data from the Ministry of Labor, for various reasons. Specifically, for 2 out of 10 self-employed workers surveyed by TaxScouts the main reason was labor freedom and flexibility, valuing the possibility of choosing their hours and place of work and being selective with clients and projects, while 18% did so out of the desire to start their own business and carry out a personal project. In the case of the new self-employed, in addition, up to 89% mention freedom, independence and flexibility among some of their reasons.
On the other hand, the increasing bureaucratic burden that the self-employed have to face, recently represented by the upcoming need to issue electronic invoices, has meant that many of these self-employed have had to resort to external consultancies. to help them manage the procedures linked to their activity. Here, too, there are differences between new freelancers and veteran freelancers and, thus, for 22% of new freelancers, the most important thing is to have fluid communication with their advisor and to be able to ask them questions at no extra cost, while the most experienced are They are also more practical and value more information and advice related to taxes, but also to their activity (19%).
Social networks and freelancers
This is another difference between freelancers: the way in which they find out about their activity and sector, and their relationship with social networks, which are much more relevant for new freelancers. Specifically, practically all veteran self-employed workers, 93%, follow specific media outlets to find out about matters related to their activity, a percentage that drops to 60% in the case of new self-employed workers, who prefer social networks such as Instagram (35%), compared to 28% of veterans, and LinkedIn (30% vs. 17%).
Finally, the use of social networks to find work is also one of the differences between the two sets of workers and, in fact, 30% of the new self-employed got their first client this way. In the case of veteran self-employed workers, this percentage drops to 14% and they depended more on their contacts and friends to get that first job (64%) compared to new self-employed workers (43%). (Diazepam)
